Lister was appointed following an open competition under the provisions of the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

He took up his current role at The Times in early 2009, having previously been an assistant news editor at the newspaper.

Lister has been at The Times for ten years and served as a health correspondent, a Scotland correspondent and a general news reporter.

‘Do not sensationalise,’ Lister advised aspiring journalists in 2009. The website Journlaism.co.uk quotes him as also saying: ‘Keeping cod science out of the media is as important as getting good stories in.’